Non-rigid containers such as bags, usually made of plastic, are cheap, disposable, and universally employed for the collection and disposal of refuse. An example is the use by highway crew members, often volunteers, who employ them to collect discarded highway refuse. Highway cleanup collectors may be required to carry these containers over long distances while picking up discarded items.
Users of non-rigid containers have two significant problems. First, it is awkward to keep them open, especially outdoors in windy conditions. Second, it is difficult to carry them when weighted down with contents, resulting in containers being dragged on the ground rather than carried. Highway trash collectors need a small, easily portable device that overcomes these two problems.
Many inventions have been described for opening and supporting non-rigid containers. However, no prior art is satisfactory as a carrier for roadway refuse collection. (See International Classification search number 665667/12, sack holders, i.e. stands or frames with means for supporting sacks in the open condition to facilitate filling with articles or materials.) Emphasis of prior art has been to support non-rigid containers in their fully open configuration with less emphasis on portability. As examples O. Hanks (U.S. Pat. No. 63,383), H. W. Hildreth (U.S. Pat. No. 1,057,240), E. B. Bannsen (U.S. Pat. No. 3,161,391), S. T. Stoltze U.S. Pat. No. 3,313,504), O'Donnell (U.S. Pat. No. 3,826,455), Elmer (U.S. Pat. No. 4,157,801), Lake (U.S. Pat. No. 3,687,408), Vandermast (U.S. Pat. No. 3,627,242), E. E. Burroughs et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 3,388,882), Hambleton (U.S. Pat. No. 4,437,634), describe framed stands that support and keep open a non-rigid container. These devices are useful at a fixed location or in a limited area but are awkward to carry over a long distance.
Washington (U.S. Pat. No. 4,287,701) describes a ring device for keeping a non-rigid container open, but this device lacks a handle.
F. W. Cerny (U.S. Pat. No. 1,265,996) and Linn (U.S. Pat. No. 9,038,248) describe, a handle for a non-rigid container that is suitable for small, light containers but is not suitable for carrying heavy ones.
Other handles have been described for carrying non-rigid containers having strings, straps, ropes, or other attachment points. None of these devices is suitable as a handle for a typical plastic trash bag devoid of attachment points. Examples are the devices described by Startzell (U.S. Pat. No. 8,020,910), Palmer (U.S. Pat. No. 7,302,735), Bradford (U.S. Pat. No. 7,097,223), Novakovich et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 7,090,272), Shin (U.S. Pat. No. 6,199,690), Tipp (U.S. Pat. No. 5,865,494), Lisbon (U.S. Pat. No. 5,803,522), Kosteniuk (U.S. Pat. No. 5,645,306), and Randels (U.S. Pat. No. 5,527,076).
This application introduces new art that can satisfy the utility, portability, and simplicity requirements of a carrier for non-rigid containers used by crews for highway refuse collection.